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Pulse oximetry is used widely to titrate oxygen therapy and for triage in patients who are critically ill. However, there are concerns regarding the accuracy of pulse oximetry in patients with COVID-19 pneumonitis and in patients who have a greater degree of skin pigmentation. We aimed to determine the impact of patient ethnicity on the accuracy of peripheral pulse oximetry in patients who were critically ill with COVID-19 pneumonitis by conducting a retrospective observational study comparing paired measurements of arterial oxygen saturation measured by co-oximetry on arterial blood gas analysis (SaO2 ) and the corresponding peripheral oxygenation saturation measured by pulse oximetry (Sp O2 ). Bias was calculated as the mean difference between SaO2 and Sp O2 measurements and limits of agreement were calculated as bias ±1.96 SD. Data from 194 patients (135 White ethnic origin, 34 Asian ethnic origin, 19 Black ethnic origin and 6 other ethnic origin) were analysed consisting of 6216 paired SaO2 and Sp O2 measurements. Bias (limits of agreement) between SaO2 and Sp O2 measurements was 0.05% (-2.21-2.30). Patient ethnicity did not alter this to a clinically significant degree: 0.28% (1.79-2.35), -0.33% (-2.47-2.35) and -0.75% (-3.47-1.97) for patients of White, Asian and Black ethnic origin, respectively. In patients with COVID-19 pneumonitis, Sp O2 measurements showed a level of agreement with SaO2 values that was in line with previous work, and this was not affected by patient ethnicity.

Research has shown that public housing residents have the worst health of any population in the USA. However, it is unclear what the cause of that poor health is among this population. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between public housing and health conditions: specifically, we ask if residents entered public housing already ill or if public housing may cause the poor health of its residents. The data used for this study come from the GSU Urban Health Initiative, which is a prospective, mixed-methods study of seven public housing communities earmarked for demolition and relocation (N = 385). We used the pre-relocation, baseline survey. We found that, while health was not the main reason residents gave for entering public housing, the majority of public housing residents entered public housing already ill. Substandard housing conditions, long tenure in public housing, and having had a worse living situation prior to public housing were not associated with an increased risk of a health condition diagnosed after entry into public housing. Our findings suggest that public housing may have provided a safety net for the very unhealthy poor.

Summary About half the number of stumps of recently felled Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), selected so as to be evenly distributed over the plots concerned, were barked. Equal numbers of these and of the unbarked stumps were uprooted later, and the larvae, pupae and adults of Hylobius abietis L. and other insects in the stumps and roots were counted. Other readily obtainable data were also collected. In one experiment, cages were put over the stumps to trap the emerging H. abietis adults. On comparing the Hylobius populations in the two categories of stumps it was seen that barking at the beginning of the oviposition period or about 1, 2 and 6 months before it, did not result in a significant reduction of the numbers developing in and emerging from the stumps and roots. Even clearing the soil round the stumps and main roots, carefully barking the stumps to a greater depth than usual, replacing the soil and treading it down did not produce that effect. Nor was it obtained by barking at a time during the larval stage when the greatest possible number of larvae could be destroyed. The latter experiment was carried out in both thinned and cleared plots, the others in either of the two types of plots. It is concluded from a study of the literature on the subject and from these results that the efficacy of barking as a control measure against H. abietis is unproven and that some of the obvious modifications of the method are definitely ineffective. There was no consistent difference between the numbers of Hylobius developing in stumps in cleared or in thinned plots. The time required for development and emergence from the stumps and roots was 14–18 months, presumably corresponding to a two-year cycle from one egg stage to another. In some individuals the underground period was either 3–6 or 12 months. Most adults appear above ground in August. Less than 10 % of the eggs reached the adult stage on one cleared plot, the greatest mortality occurring in the early larval stages. Normally no H. abietis will be present in the stumps after the second summer after felling. The latter statement also applies to all Scolytids in clear-felled plots; in thinned plots small numbers may persist after that. Hylastes ater Payk. was the most numerous of these Scolytids. Where the adults of that species could choose between freshly barked and unbarked stumps greater numbers of them invaded the former, but the difference in numbers was offset later by the greater mortality in the brood in the barked stumps. It is believed, however, that the total mortality in the barked and unbarked stumps together remained the same, and that even the barking of all the stumps in a given area would not have affected the total mortality. Barking prevents pine-shoot beetles (Myelophilus piniperda L., Scolytidae) from breeding in the stumps, but not many are likely to do so under the conditions prevailing in the Netherlands; so the operation is not considered worth the expense. Other Scolytids regularly found in the stumps were Hylastes opacus Er., H. attenuatus Er. and Hylurgus ligniperda Fabr. The number of their offspring was not affected by barking. Cerambycid larvae found more or less regularly in the stumps were Acanthocinus aedilis L., Tetropium sp., Asemum striatum L. and Spondylis buprestoides L. Barking, at all events in late winter and early spring, reduces the numbers of the first two species. It is not clear what effect barking has on the others. Other species found more or less regularly in the stumps included the following Coleoptera: the Nitidulids Pityophagus ferrugineus L. and Rhizophagus ferrugineus Payk., the Elaterid Melanotus rufipes Herbst, the Tenebrionid Cylindronotus (Helops) laevioctostriatus (Goeze); and the following Diptera: the Asilid Laphria gilva L., and the Dolichopodid Medetera sp. The numbers of Elaterid larvae (including M. rufipes) and the number of larvae in the group called “various predacious Coleoptera” (including many Nitidulids) were significantly affected by barking in some experiments. It is not understood why they were not generally so affected. Zusammenfassung Vergleichende Untersuchungen an entrindeten und nicht entrindeten Kiefernstubben ergaben keine gesicherten Unterschiede. Die Entrindung ist somit als Bekampfungsmasnahme gegen H. abietis nicht geeignet. Die Entwicklungszeit von H. abietis in den Stubben auf Kahlschlagen oder auf durchforsteten Parzellen betrug in beiden Fallen in der Regel 14 bis 18 Monate. Die meisten Imagines schlupften im August. Die hochste Sterblichkeit wurde bei den fruhen Larvenstadien festgestellt. Normalerweise sind Stubben im zweiten Herbst nach ihrer Fallung von H. abietis frei. Die an Individuen reichste Art der Scolytiden war Hylastes ater Payk., der berindete Stubben bevorzugte. Durch Entrinden wurde der Waldgartner (Myelophilus piniperda L.) am Bruten in den Stubben verhindert. In den Niederlanden spielen Stubben als Reservoir von M. piniperda jedoch eine so geringe Rolle, das eine Entrindung ihretwegen nicht rentabel ist. Andere regelmasig in entrindeten und berindeten Stubben gefundene Scolytiden waren: Hylastes opacus Er., H. attenuatus Er. und Hylurgus ligniperda Fabr. Von Cerambyciden wurden regelmasig in den Stubben die Larven folgender Arten gefunden: Acanthocinus aedilis L., Tetropium sp., Asemum striatum L. und Spondylis buprcstoides L. Erstere zwei Arten wurden durch Entrinden eingeschrankt. Des weiteren wurden an Coleopteren gefunden: Pityophagus ferrugineus L. und Rhizophagus ferrugineus Payk. (Nitidul.), Melanotus rufipes Herbst (Elat.), Cylindronotus (Helops) laevioctostnatus (Goeze) (Tenebrion.) sowie die Dipteren Laphria gilva L. (Asilidae) und Medetera sp. (Dolichopod.).

Posterior pharyngeal pouch endoscopic stapling has gained increasing popularity among otolaryngologists especially in elderly patients. Post-operative barium swallow appearances can create confusion with the appearance of persistent pouches. We describe our experience in 10 patients, three of whom had external excision with cricopharyngeal myotomy and the remaining seven had endoscopic stapling approach. All three patients who had external excision showed no residual pouch whereas all seven patients who had endoscopic techniques performed showed some residual pouch. We were unsuccessful in our attempt to correlate post-operative symptoms with radiological appearance. Attempts by other radiologists at identifying pre- and post-operative barium swallow radiographs in patients who had endoscopic stapling of pharyngeal pouch were unsuccessful. We conclude that post-operative barium swallow radiography plays no role in determining the success of endoscopic stapling of pharyngeal pouch.

Injury to the radial nerve is not uncommonly associated with fractures of the humerus. Despite a considerable amount of information and literature regarding management of these associated injuries, a universally accepted algorithm for treatment remains elusive. This article assimilates the data and provides evidence-based recommendations regarding treatment.

Labial gland disease causes swelling of the labial glands in the pupal stage inFormica species. The resulting adults have enlarged thoraces and are called secretergates (Wasmann's pseudogynes). They infect the younger larvae, probably during feeding. The agent of the disease is unknown. It soon becomes non-infectious outside the labial glands. Diseased females were not seen to feed larvae. Yet their offspring contained secretergates. The discrepancy remains unexplained.

Postage stamps from foreign countries are invaluable pictorial vehicles of communication which focus our attention on a particular nation's cultural history and heritage. When used in the language class or as an extracurricular activity, foreign stamps act as a springboard to an interdisciplinary study of a foreign culture. The article expains how, with relative ease, stamps can be collected, catalogued, photographed, arranged in thematic areas, and incorporated into a language curriculum or culture cluster.

Females with enlarged labial glands were found in two colonies of the polygynous form ofFormica rufa L. They were distinguishable from normal females by more or less extensive brown patches on otherwise black scutums, and by slightly enlarged pronotums. They mated in the ordinary way; afterwards they were found to have their spermathecas full of living sperm and later produced normal workers and workers with enlarged labial glands (Wasmann's «pseudogynes», Novak's «secretergates»). There were indications that the power of flight, if any, was poorer than that of normal females.